Numerous people rely upon or have grown accustomed to usage of electrical consumer devices for business, education, or for other needs. Electronic consumer devices are increasingly portable to accommodate these needs during travel from home or the workplace. The sophistication and capabilities of power supplies for such devices have also improved to meet the requirements of the electronic consumer devices. For example, cost, size, and capacity are some product characteristics which have been improved for the portable power supplies for electronic applications. There is a desire to enhance these and other design parameters of power supplies, including portable power supplies, to accommodate increasing power requirements of modern electronic consumer devices.
Rechargeable batteries are charged by battery chargers such as trickle chargers and fast chargers. Fast chargers are preferred over trickle chargers due to their fast charging time. Portable devices attempt to use the maximum available power from a wall adapter when recharging the internal batteries. However, a battery can be overcharged by a fast charger because of the high current used for charging. In order to prevent a continuous overcharge, a fast charger requires circuitry to discontinue charging of the battery. Without such circuitry, the fast charger will overcharge the battery, risking damage to the battery. Overcharging also shortens battery life by heating the battery which deteriorates a separator in the cells. Portable devices attempt to use maximum available power from a wall adapter when recharging internal batteries of the portable device. Currently, some manufacturers adopt 90 W adapters to both power the portable device as well as charge the portable device's batteries as quickly as possible.
At least some aspects provide improved electrical energy systems, power supply apparatuses, and methods of supplying power.